Sociology modules are offered in various undergraduate qualifications such as Bachelor of Arts (Extended and Mainstream) and Bachelor of Social Sciences (Extended and Mainstream).

Knowledge of sociology can help us to:

Recover our own immediate past and also to look to the future.

Appreciate diversity of human existence in society.

Deal with current societal problems.

Strive for the creation of a better society for all.

The different sociological courses deal with the major components of societies, namely family, religion, education, politics, gender, population, and economics, consumerism, as well as with social processes such as deviance, health, social transformation, developmental, and environmental issues.

Take note that some modules are only offered on specific campuses of the university. The following sociology modules are offered by the Department of Sociology:

Syllabi

SOCI1514: An introduction to sociology

The overall purpose of this module is to enable students to internalize the sociological imagination, understand how it is used to study social phenomena, and demonstrate the ability to use it both in theoretical and practical domains. Themes such as the following will be dealt with: The sociological perspective; research skills; social structure and social interaction; global stratification; race and ethnicity; as well as sex and gender.

SOCI1624: Social institutions & social change

The overall purpose of this module is to enable students to demonstrate knowledge and insight necessary to the analysis of different social institutions, as well as to comprehend the dynamics of social change. Linking with the sociological imagination internalized in the first semester, students will be able to display the ability to see the link between theory and practice in selected social institutions.

This module explores the role of human beings as consumers and their behaviour in contemporary consumer society. Themes covered in this module include: consumers and consumerism; the historical context of consumerism and consumption; theoretical perspectives concerning consumerism and consumption; identity and consumption; gender and race within consumerism and consumption; living in a consumer society; and the consumer-citizenship debate.

SOCD2614: The sociology of developing societies (Only QwaQwa campus)

This module examines the role of development in society, especially in a globalised world. Themes cover perspectives concerned with the means by which countries have tried to attain their developmental goals. Topics include: defining the concept of development; modernisation theory of development; theories of underdevelopment; as well as micro-foundations for development thinking.

SOCF2614: The sociology of family & domestic life (Only Bloemfontein campus)

The main aim of this module is to provide students with a conceptual framework for the analysis of family and domestic life and to enable students to analyse the family from a sociological perspective. Themes such as the following will be dealt with: the family in context; theoretical perspectives on the family; gender and the family; work and family; power and violence in families; family stress and crises; and the changing family.

SOCL2624: Industrial sociology (Only Bloemfontein campus)

This is an area of sociology that focuses on the nature of work in modern societies. Both the interaction of people within industry as well as the impact of industrialisation on societies is studied. The themes and issues covered in this module include: the concept of work; classical and contemporary theories of work; the organizational setting; gender and work; labour unions; and unemployment.

SOCP2624: Population dynamics & environmental issues

This module focuses on the relationship between the social and natural environment, specifically on facets of human interaction that can disturb the balance of this relationship. Topics covered in this module include: the nature and extent of environmental issues; the nature and extent of human population growth as an issue; the formulation of population policy; and sustainability as a solution to the environmental crisis.

SOCT3718: Sociological theory

The focus in this module is on different sociological paradigms: the classical paradigms, functionalism and systems theory; Marxist and critical paradigms; phenomenology; post modernism; structurationist paradigms; feminism; globalisation paradigms and the multi-paradigmatic status of sociological theory.

SOCR3728: Research sociology

This module deals with the research process to introduce students to the scientific world of collecting and interpreting data and understanding issues pertaining to research traditions (positivist paradigm; interpretivist paradigm; critical paradigm); as well as issues related to ethics in research. The focus of the applied exercises is on quantitative research whereas students are also introduced - albeit in a more theoretical manner - to qualitative research.